Tag Archives: Indian Navy

In the midst of the recent concern of China’s new boarding laws–which if looked at closely appear to be less threatening than all the media hype suggests–the Indian Navy Chief Admiral D K Joshi has commented on India’s view on the South China Sea at a recent press conference. An excerpt of his speech and a link to the video are included in the jump.

The IMB Piracy Reporting Centre released a brief at the end of October providing worldwide piracy statistics for the year. The report showed substantive decreases in Somali piracy as international efforts–including those from India among other nations–helped curb maritime attacks.

The report comes on top of a recent talk with US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Andrew Shapiro. His remarks at the Atlantic Council suggest that India may be at greater risk due to the Pirates’ increased use of motherships, something the press has been reporting for some time.

There’s been much speculation around PM Singh’s visit to Japan between 15-18NOV12. The Times of India on 05NOV12 mirrored a piece from the Asahi Shimbun speaking of a closer security alliance between the two indicating that Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Indian Navy will hold joint exercises in the Indian Ocean as well as around Japan. (India and Japan only recently conducted their first bilateral naval exercise in June 2012.) This outcome will reportedly be part of a new bilateral forum on security matters to be announced during the visit.

According to the AS piece, the aim as we’ve often heard before is to counter China’s rising military capabilities in the region. Although that may be so, this move wasn’t hard to foresee as the US recently concluded the trilateral forum between India and Japan during a time when the issues over the Senkakus have been brought into the spotlight.

Like many have speculated, the US may be helping push Japan and India closer together in the hopes India and the US will develop a better relationship despite (what India may see as) diverging national interests.

Indian press reports the INS Viraat arriving in Kochi on 02NOV12 for periodic refit at the Cochin Shipyard (CSL). The work is expected to last at least three months. (Earlier reports said the refit would take much longer leaving India without a working aircraft carrier until March 2013).

The Indian Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force conducted their first ever bilateral naval exercise during a visit of four Indian Navy ships to Japan from June 5 to 9 as part of the scheduled Overseas Fleet Deployment.

The exercise was conducted off the coast of Japan on 09-10 June, 2012.